Explosive mixture



UNITE amass PIERRE m HAYNES, ornurrero', NEW YORK, as'sronoa TO THE LINDE AIR raonucrscomm, a CORPORATION or OHIO.

EXPLOSIVE MIXTURE.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern; I

Be it known that I. Irnm'an- E. HAYNES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Explosive Mixtures, of which the following is a specification.

It-has alreadybeen proposed to make an explosive by absorbing a highly volatile liquid oxidizing agent, such as those boiling at atmospheric pressure below the. centigrade zero, for example, liquid oxygen or liquid ozone in a highly absorbent combustible material, such as charcoal. Such a mixture is claimed in United States Patent No. 1,282,-

. These liquid oxidizing agents evaporate.

mg ingredient escapes at such a rate that if the charge is not fired withinazshort time,

there will not be enough of the oxidizing component left to'completely burn the combustibleingredient, in which event the efficiency of the explosive would be greatlyimpaired. For 3 this reason, it is very 1mportant that a substantial excess of the oxidlzmg agent be absorbed in the combustible ingredient, and it is also importantthat the structure of the absorbent be such that the oxidizing agent will escape from it as slowly as possible.

In the prior patent referred to, the. absorbent specifically claimed is balsa wood, preferably charred. \Vhile this material forms, when saturated with liquid oxygen or ozone,.a'mixture capable of exploding with practically maximum force for several minutes after its preparation, I have now found that the \vood'of certain other plants is much superior for this purpose. Examples of these plants are "Esckynomene (L 7mm, /E.s"clz-ynommw can'nabina, .Eschynomcue Zagemrrim (Laureiro and Roxburgh), i-lralia (Fatsia) and Papyrifia. (Hook). Such plants are indigenous to the moist tor- 1920.. Serial No. 398,380.

rid regions of India, China, Japan, and Formosa and are variously .known as solah plant, sola, salah, solar, shot'a, spongewood, hat pla'nt,T'suso, Tung-tsao, and pith plant. For the sake of brevity, all the above closely related plants will be hereinafter referred to as sola.

While the sola. Wood may be merely dried and then used as an absorbent, I prefer to carefully char it and to dry the char at a temperature of 110 C. shortly before using it. Obviously the char should be cooled beforethe low-boiling oxidizing liqu dis absorbed in it. Evaporation of the liquid may be retarded by heat-insulating the charge, as by Wrapping it in paper or the like, but satisfactory results may be obtained-in most cases without the use of such'heat-insulation.

My invention is not limited to the combination of the absorbent with the vola ile oxidizing agentas other explosives, inert materials, or solid or liquid oxidizing or combustible ingredients may be added in some cases, having due regard to the proper balance between oxidizing and reducing con-. stituents, and the effect. on this balance of the loss by evaporation of a portion of one or more-of the constituents between the time of preparing the charge and the time of firing it. The scope of the invention is only limited by the appended claims.

I claim:

1-. An explosive mixture comprising dried sola Wood and a liquid oxidizing agent.

2. An explosive mixture comprising carbonized sola Wood and a liquid oxidizing agent.

3. An explosive mixture comprising dried sola wood and a liquid oxidizing agent boiling below the Centigrade zero.

4. An explosive mixture comprising carbonized sola wood and a liquid oxidizing agent boiling below the centigrade zero.

.5. An explosive mixture comprising earbonized sola wood and liquid ozone.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

' PIERRE E. HAYNES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb, 28, 1922, 

